Track dominates Sun Devil Open

Home Sweet Home: ASU junior Jamie Sandys makes his run during the pole vault at the Sun Devil Open on Saturday. ASU dominated the home meet, recording 25 top-three marks during the two-day meet. (Photo by Lisa Bartoli)

The ASU track and field had said it was going to use this past weekend to see where it stood and where tune-ups and refinements were needed. It is always hard to critique a winning performance, and the Sun Devils may have a tough time doing that after a dominant showing at their own Sun Devil Open at Sun Angel Stadium over the weekend.

ASU had 25 top-three marks, 11 from the men’s team and 14 from the No. 10 women’s team on Friday and Saturday in Tempe.

The marks are an encouraging sign for the Sun Devils with the championship season nearing. Redshirt senior Jasmine Chaney and her teammates see this year’s incarnation of track on pace for a successful second season.

“We had a meeting, and we tried to see how many points we could score in Pac-10s,” Chaney said. “We calculated the same amount of points that Pac-10 was won in 2007. ASU won the Pac-10s that year and set a scoring record at the time. We figured if we could compare to a team like that, we’re looking for good things.”

Chaney only competed in one event on the weekend and captured a second-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. Her time of 13.22 seconds was the fastest time by an NCAA athlete at the event, with the first place runner from the Stellar Athletics club.

The most impressive overall performance from the women came in a one-two-three finish in the long jump.

Freshman Alycia Herring took first with a jump of 6.15 meters, senior Samantha Henderson finished second at 6.09 meters, and sophomore Keia Pinnick rounded out the group in third at 6.03 meters.

ASU also received first place finishes from Henderson in the shot put, from sophomore Christabel Nettey in the triple jump, and from freshman Sarah Green in the 400-meter hurdles.

On the men’s side, the Sun Devils produced eight first-place finishes.

Redshirt freshman Ryan Milus and true freshman Bryan McBride captured two first-place finishes each. Milus took the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, and McBride took the high jump and long jump.

Both the 4×100 meter and 4×400 meter relay teams took first place, and junior John Kline took the last first-place finish on the track in the 400-meter dash.

Junior Chris Bernard finished out the Sun Devil winners with a victory in the triple jump.